Firestar Read Online Free PDF Page A

strong as ever. There seemed, she thought, to be a special bond between the three of them. They were forever calling or texting one another and, she thought as she manoeuvred her trolley to the exit, at least one advantage of having them all under the same roof would, hopefully, be a much smaller telephone bill.
    What Bob and Margaret Grant didn’t know, however , was the fantastic set of circumstances that had brought the children together in the first place. Neil and Clara’s father, the park ranger on Arthur’s Seat, had always known that magic people called the MacArthurs, lived in its depths. Neil and Clara had played with them as children and after helping them sort out their dragon who, at the time, had taken to fire-raising in earnest, they had had many adventures; for the MacArthurs had given them magic firestones so that they could merge with humans, birds and animals and fly on magic carpets . They were also on friendly terms with many of the Lords of the North; great magicians whose magic was strong and powerful. Indeed, it was through Prince Casimir that they had met Lewis — for Lewis had inadvertently become involved in the world of magic and, like them, wore a firestone.
    It was when they were stuck in a traffic jam halfway down a busy street that Margaret Grant,glancing idly at the shoppers crowding the pavement , saw a face that she recognized. Interesting, she thought, for there was no mistaking the tall young man with the strange, spiky hair who was helping to load up a 4x4 with groceries. It was after dinner, however, when the children had gone upstairs to unpack and sort themselves out, that she remembered the incident and mentioned the matter to her husband.
    “Bob,” she said as she stacked the dishwasher, “remember the Americans that were involved in setting up the Earth Satellite Station at Umm al Aish when we were in Kuwait?”
    “Yes?” her husband looked at her speculatively. “What about them?”
    “Well, I’m sure I saw one of them when I was picking up Neil and Clara; Chuck … the one with the funny, spiky haircut.”
    “Chuck?” her husband’s eyebrows rose. “Chuck Easterman? I wonder what brings
him
here.”
    “There were quite a few of them. Americans, I mean. Loading up a 4x4 with stuff from the supermarket . It looked as though they were catering for an army.”
    Bob Grant frowned. “I got on quite well with Easterman,” he said, “but I hear that he’s moved on to bigger and better things. The grapevine has it that he’s involved with the space agency these days.”
    “Well,” Margaret said soothingly. “I’m sure we’ll be hearing from him soon. After all, he’s bound to know you’re in Aberdeen.”
    “Maybe,” her husband said idly, rising to his feetas a strong gust of wind rattled the window panes, “maybe not.” He looked out of the window into the gathering gloom. “I think I’ll put the car in the garage. The wind’s getting up and the forecast isn’t too good.”
    “Try and get the cat to come in at the same time,” his wife urged. “I don’t like leaving her out for too long — especially when the weather’s bad.”

    The storm lashed Scotland all that night. Gale force winds howled through its mountains and glens with tearing ferocity while driving rain turned the thin burns that ran off the hills into raging torrents that pulled boulders from their path and sent them bouncing and tumbling into the valleys below.
    As thunder rolled and lightning flashed in vicious streaks across the sky, you could be forgiven for thinking that no one in his right mind would ever have ventured out on such a night. Highlanders, however, have always been a law unto themselves and the crofter, striding the hills, knew the countryside like the back of his hand. Making his way confidently towards his house on the other side of the glen, he was well content with his night’s work, for the pair of rabbits in his capacious pockets would make an excellent stew